Navajo government hires aggressive pro-mining firm to push through water rights theft bill

By Brenda Norrell

The Navajo Nation has hired an aggressive pro-mining firm to push through the theft of Navajo and Hopi water rights for the benefit of non-Indians in Arizona. The scheme would rob Navajos and Hopis of water rights to the Little Colorado River.

Klee Benally, Navajo, said that Navajo President Ben Shelly and the tribal government are using the peoples money to hire the firm, while disposing of their water rights to the Little Colorado River for future generations.

"Aside from the serious concerns with the impacts of the water settlement this action has asserted that the Navajo Nation leadership does not care what the Dine' people think," Benally said.

"How can the Shelly administration on one hand say that they are going to listen to the people's concerns and schedule public forums, and on the other hand hire an aggressive lobbying group to 'secure Congressional approval?'"

"What's the point of these public forums then? To affirm a foregone conclusion? Not only are they supporting the settlement, they are going to spend our money to get it approved. To make matters worse and to clarify that Shelly administration doesn't care what Dine' people say, Brownstein, Hyatt, Farber and Schreck is in bed with the very energy companies that the settlement would benefit."

The Legal Times Blog reports: "Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck has notified Congress it is lobbying for the Navajo Nation on legislation that would settle water rights claims of the southwestern tribe.

"The firm has deployed shareholder David Bernhardt, policy director Elizabeth Gore and of counsel Ryan Smith to advocate on the Navajo-Hopi Little Colorado River Water Rights Settlement Act, according to a lobbying registration report Brownstein filed last week. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Rep. Benjamin Quayle (R-Ariz.) introduced the legislation last month."

"Navajo Nation President Ben Shelly has commended McCain for introducing the bill and has pledged to work with Congress to pass the measure," Legal Times reports.

Arizona is increasingly desperate for water downstream, as is the Navajo Generating Station, operated by the Salt River Project, and located on Navajoland. It is one of the dirtiest coal-fired power plants in the US. It uses coal from Peabody Coal mining on Black Mesa.

American Indians are guaranteed expansive water rights for their use under the Winters Doctrine.

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ALEC is not a lobby; it is not a front group. It is much more powerful than that. Through ALEC, behind closed doors, corporations hand state legislators the changes to the law they desire that directly benefit their bottom line. Along with legislators, corporations have membership in ALEC. Corporations sit on all nine ALEC task forces and vote with legislators to approve “model” bills. They have their own corporate governing board which meets jointly with the legislative board. (ALEC says that corporations do not vote on the board.) They fund almost all of ALEC's operations. Participating legislators, overwhelmingly conservative Republicans, then bring those proposals home and introduce them in statehouses across the land as their own brilliant ideas and important public policy innovations—without disclosing that corporations crafted and voted on the bills. ALEC boasts that it has over 1,000 of these bills introduced by legislative members every year, with one in every five of them enacted into law. ALEC describes itself as a “unique,” “unparalleled” and “unmatched” organization. It might be right. It is as if a state legislature had been reconstituted, yet corporations had pushed the people out the door. Learn more at ALECexposed.org.

Read more from Blog of Legal Times: Brownstein Hyatt Lobbying for Navajo Nation on Water Rights

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Censored News is published by Brenda Norrell, a journalist in Indian country for 35 years. Norrell created Censored News after she was censored and terminated as a staff reporter at Indian Country Today in 2006. She began as a reporter at Navajo Times during the 18 years that she lived on the Navajo Nation. She was a stringer for AP and USA Today and later traveled with the Zapatistas through Mexico. She has been blacklisted by all the paying media for 11 years. Now in its 11th year with more than 16 million page views, Censored News has no ads, grants or revenues. Contact brendanorrell@gmail.com

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